Natural catastrophes in 2021: heavy cost for Belgian insurers

The professional association of Belgian insurance companies Assuralia has estimated the cost of natural disasters in 2021 at 2.8 billion EUR (3.17 billion USD) compared to 369 million EUR (453.2 million USD) in 2020. The insured losses caused by floods alone reached 2.6 billion EUR (2.94 billion USD).

The heavy floods that hit Belgium in July 2021 led to more than 70 000 claims. Insurers have already settled 1 billion EUR (1.13 billion USD) to the victims of the disaster.

Assuralia also estimated that the market would record a turnover of 30.109 billion EUR (34.1 billion USD) by the end of 2021, which is an increase of 5.6% over one year. Life premiums stood at 16.391 billion EUR (18.5 billion USD) compared to 13.718 billion EUR (15.5 billion USD) for the non-life activity.